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Read. Follow. Verify.Idaho House Bill 904 prohibits foreign persons and adversaries from purchasing single-family homes and certain lands
Last action · March 17, 2026: Reported Printed and Referred to Business
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What This Bill Proposed
Beginning July 1, 2026, s are prohibited from purchasing or acquiring a in single-family homes in Idaho, and foreign adversaries are restricted from holding agricultural land, mineral rights, and water rights. Affected entities must divest within 180 days, failure of which triggers and potential whistleblower rewards. The measure also establishes registration requirements with state agencies.
Property owners, foreign investors, and state agencies face strict compliance rules, mandatory divestitures, and risks, while individuals can earn financial rewards by reporting violations to the attorney general.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Foreign persons
Foreign individuals, corporations, and entities face prohibitions on purchasing single-family homes and must divest unauthorized properties within 180 days.
Foreign principals and adversaries
Entities from foreign adversary countries are restricted from holding agricultural land, forest land, water rights, and mineral claims, and must register existing holdings.
Whistleblowers
Individuals who report illegal property holdings are eligible for a 30% financial reward from sale proceeds upon successful divestiture.
Attorney General
The office of the attorney general is required to investigate complaints and commence district court actions for judicial foreclosure on illegal property holdings.
Key Facts
- On and after July 1, 2026, foreign persons are prohibited from purchasing or acquiring a controlling interest in a single-family home in Idaho.
- A foreign person who acquires control of a single-family home on or after July 1, 2026, through inheritance, debt collection, or security enforcement must divest within 180 days.
- If a foreign person fails to divest a restricted single-family home, the attorney general must file an action in district court for judicial foreclosure.
- Starting January 1, 2027, whistleblowers can report violations and receive a reward equal to 30% of the property sale proceeds after specified disbursements.
Show all 10 facts
- Foreign governments and state-controlled enterprises are prohibited from acquiring controlling interests in agricultural land, forest land, water rights, mining claims, or mineral rights in Idaho.
- Foreign principals from a foreign adversary cannot hold controlling or non-de minimis indirect interests in Idaho agricultural land, water rights, mining claims, or mineral rights.
- Foreign principals owning agricultural land must register with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture within 60 days of the act's effective date or acquisition.
- Foreign principals owning mining claims or mineral rights must register with the Idaho Department of Lands and the Idaho Secretary of State within 60 days.
- Entities with an existing national security agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States as of July 1, 2025, are exempt from adversary restrictions.
- Non-foreign individuals and entities have no duty to investigate whether others are foreign persons and bear no civil or criminal liability under the law.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a foreign person acquires a single-family home through debt collection?
Can ordinary citizens be penalized if they fail to check whether a buyer is a foreign person?
How much can a whistleblower receive as a reward?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Mar 17, 2026CommitteeReported Printed and Referred to Business
- Mar 16, 2026IntroducedIntroduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Foreign Ownership Restrictions
The bill broadens existing prohibitions beyond agricultural and resource lands to explicitly include single-family residential homes.
Connected Entities
Sources
legislature.idaho.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 85)
- Controversy80Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment20Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz75Current news / social attention level
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